I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. And if you root for the Lions, I hope you have a good sense of humor. I was supposed to bring back the mailbag Monday, but then the Big Ten expanded, then it expanded again, it was a short week, Gary Harris got hurt, I had some holiday lights to put up, etc.

Plus, most of the emails I got after MSUís latest football loss were declarations more than questions -- Iím done buying season tickets, I demand staff changes, Iím calling my local representative, things like that.

I did find a couple to answer. But first, hereís my Q&A on the Golden Gophers with Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Q: OK, I've got to start with A.J. Barker. What's your take on this situation? Did you see something like this coming? What's the impact on Minnesota this week, and on coach Jerry Kill long-term?

A: I don't think anybody saw it coming, and one theory I've heard a few times is that it might not have happened if the Gophers had been at home last week. Barker was obviously upset about the dressing-down Jerry Kill gave him Thursday, but if he had been with his teammates Friday and on the sidelines Saturday, he may have had second thoughts about stomping off.

Instead, he was left behind as the Gophers traveled to Nebraska, and obviously made up his mind while they were gone. The impact will be interesting to see -- it dominated the news in Minneapolis on Sunday and Monday, and there's no doubt it was a huge distraction.

But the focus gradually has returned to the game, the seniors' last. As for Kill, I have no doubt other programs may use it against the Gophers in recruiting, but Kill makes no apologies for his "tough love" approach. So we'll see whether it matters.

Q: Sticking with Kill, it seems like he's really getting some good things done in his second season. What's your outlook on his potential to significantly turn this program?

A: Well, he's definitely made progress as he has incorporated his players into the program. How much progress is open to interpretation. The Gophers have won six games, but four were nonconference games against UNLV, New Hampshire, Western Michigan and Syracuse, the latter three at home.

The Big Ten wins were against Purdue and Illinois. So you can make a pretty strong case, a pretty ironclad case, that their winning record is a schedule victory. On the other hand: The Gophers lost home games last year to North Dakota State and New Mexico State. So merely winning the automatic wins is progress.

That's a pretty cynical answer, I know. But it's only year two, and an injury-riddled one at that. Next year and, especially, 2014 are the real tests of their progress. For now, they are getting a better pass rush, a better running game, have a brighter future at quarterback -- it's just that none of that has translated into a signature victory yet.

Q: Is this team better off with MarQueis Gray at receiver?

A: Actually, Gray scored two touchdowns last week at Nebraska as a wildcat QB, albeit against the third-string Cornhuskers defense, and it certainly looked like the role he was born into. Now we find out, I guess.

Gray was a terrific receiver as a freshman and especially a sophomore, and that was remarkable, considering he mostly was practicing as the backup quarterback. Had he remained at the position, I have little doubt he might be an All-Big Ten candidate there now.

But he always wanted to play quarterback, he bulked up to 245 pounds to do so -- and then he got hurt. He's a receiver again, mostly by default. But to be honest, he hasn't really made much of an impact there this year, because of injury or inexperience. His career will go down as one of the great could-have-beens in Big Ten history.

Q: This Minnesota defense has some really good linemen, and Michigan State coaches think these are two of the better corners they've seen this season, but the defensive performances seem to vary wildly. Why is that?

A: Their play seems to vary based on the quality of the opposing running back, so I'm guessing an offense with Le'Veon Bell might be pretty optimistic. The Gophers are getting way, way more pressure on quarterbacks than they used to, and the cornerbacks have been a real bright spot. You can throw on them, but it's not easy.

On the other hand, Mark Weisman, Montee Ball, Venric Mark -- those guys somehow juked linemen at the line of scrimmage and discovered 30 yards of open space behind them, over and over. The Gophers are slowly learning to corral the running game, but it's still a real vulnerability.

Q: From my view, it looks like the winner of this game will be playing in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. Is that the feeling in Minneapolis, or are the Gophers trying to avoid the bowl talk?

A: The Gophers cling to the possibility of going to Jacksonville for the Gator Bowl, because of the symbolism of it: Gary Tinsley, the linebacker who died in his sleep of an enlarged heart last spring, is a Jacksonville native. But while the emotion may be with them, the numbers just don't work.

Yes, if they can knock the Spartans out of bowl eligibility, they're headed to Tempe, where the Gophers have played their last three bowl games -- all losses. Honestly, I don't think anyone would mind going to Houston for the Meineke Car Care Bowl -- someplace new for fans, and the Gophers recruit Texas far more than Arizona.

But winning Saturday is more important than any of it, so the bowls will sort themselves out. Minnesota cares most about going to a bowl, and everything else is just a detail.

Q: Your keys to the game and a prediction, if you care to give one.

A: Offense has been a huge problem all month, and against the league's best defense, at least statistically, that doesn't figure to change. In its five Big Ten losses, the Gophers have scored 13 points four times and 14 once. The offensive line is a patchwork of freshmen and sophomores, and Barker was the team's best receiver, by far.

So the game must remain low-scoring for the Gophers to compete -- they'd like a repeat of that Michigan-Michigan State game. I think the Gophers will have their chances. But with Bell carrying the ball, I just don't think they can keep MSU out of the end zone enough. I'm guessing something like 17-10, Spartans.

Thanks, Phil. Good stuff. Now please keep the weather humane for the weekend. I thought I was back in Virginia on Thursday.

Here are a couple emails and my responses. Letís all resolve to do better next week.

Every game we have lost this year, with the exception of Notre Dame, can be directly attributed to bad calls or no calls by the refs. OSU, Braxton Miller fumble blown dead, would have been a touchdown, we lost by one point (would have been huge momentum, too).

Nebraska -- phantom pass-interference call cost us the game. Northwestern, LeíVeon Bell's TD, AND we didn't even get a close look at Burbridgeís toe that looked awfully close. Didn't even get a replay or a close-up, that's at least seven points if not more right there, just to name the most obvious ones that have directly cost us football games.

And if I took the time, I could come up with countless others. I'd like to go back and look at the games I didn't mention, but I deleted them off my DVR in a fit of rage. But I know there are game-costing/changing bad/no calls against us in every single loss that would have swung the game.

I agree our offense has not been up to par, and our team has had every opportunity to overcome the bad calls and win and have not. Even with that said, we should be a 9-2 football team at the worst and, in a fair world with decent refs, 10-1.

Yes, I realize itís part of the game, but this is out of control, and it's starting to look like foul play. Is there anything I can do as a Spartan alum and rabid fan?

I am sick and tired of having my guts ripped out every week and the stripes are just having WAY too much to do with the outcome of our games. Am I delusional? Thanks for reading. Zeb

Are you delusional, Zeb? I wonít go there. But youíre overplaying the officiating.

I wonít argue with the Nebraska game. Thereís no question, two really bad calls changed that game. And youíre right about the fumble against Ohio State.

But I canít recall anything objectionable in the Iowa nor Michigan games. The Bell play could have been overturned last week, but Iím not shocked that it wasnít.

Yes, bad calls are a part of every game. Iíll give you Nebraska as one that really got taken away from MSU -- and Nebraskaís received other amazing, game-deciding bad calls this season, and thatís when the conspiracy talk heats up.
This is one of the problems with sports such as football and basketball. Officials can easily determine the outcomes of close games. And people with money, power and a stake in those outcomes know it.

What can you do? I donít know. Call your local representative?

Thanks for the story about the Big Ten grabbing "lucrative" East Coast teams to join the conference.

It saddens me that one main reason for this is the money of an East Coast connection. It seems that money is more important than other factors. What does the Big Ten have in common with either Rutgers or Maryland, other than those are land-grant universities?

I wish the Big Ten would look at more Midwestern teams, such as Missouri, Kansas State or even Oklahoma State, also land-grant universities, as possible members. I think money is becoming too important in college sports. Thanks for listening. Ned

Thanks, Ned. I donít like this expansion craziness any more than anyone else -- does anyone who isnít directly benefiting financially really like it? -- but I think the two additions this week make a lot more sense than adding ho-hum Big 12 leftovers.

In Rutgers and Maryland, the Big Ten gets the TV, the money, the ďdemographics,Ē as Jim Delany mentioned several times. It moves into a region that is actually adding population.

In the context of this ridiculous game that the power brokers of college athletics are playing, Delany is winning. These are good moves.

But Iím with you. Most of these college athletic departments are struggling to break even while building lavish facilities and paying monstrous salaries. The search for revenue streams has made casualties of tradition and common sense.

Contact Joe Rexrode: 313-222-2625 or jrexrode@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @joerexrode. Check out his MSU blog at freep.com/heyjoe.